In the early hours of Saturday, July 6, 2024, a birthday celebration in Florence, Kentucky turned into a nightmare as a mass shooting claimed the lives of four people and left three others critically injured. The assailant, identified as 21-year-old Chase Garvey, entered the party uninvited and opened fire before fleeing the scene and ultimately taking his own life.
The shooting occurred just before 2:50 a.m. at a home on Ridgecrest Drive, where Melissa Parrett, 44, was hosting a 21st birthday party for her son. The victims were Parrett, Shane Miller, 20, Hayden Rybicki, 20, and Delaney Eary, 19. Three others were seriously injured and taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where they remain in critical but stable condition.
Florence Police Chief Jeff Mallery described the scene officers encountered upon arrival. “When officers arrived, they still heard shots being fired. They saw multiple victims and were told the suspect had fled,” Mallery said.
Garvey, who had a criminal history including convictions for first-degree rape and second-degree sodomy in 2021, was known to some of the partygoers but was not invited to the event. The motive for his actions remains unclear.
Eyewitnesses provided police with a description of Garvey and his vehicle, leading to a swift response from law enforcement. Officers located Garvey’s car near an intersection a few blocks away, initiating a pursuit. The chase ended over four miles from the original scene when Garvey crashed his car into a ditch and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The victims’ friends and family are struggling with the aftermath of this event. Hayden Rybicki’s best friend, Jackson Hemingway, shared his grief: “Hayden always put a smile on people’s faces and loved to go snowboarding. He was someone everyone loved to be around.”
Melissa Parrett, the party host, was fondly remembered by her neighbors: “She was a really good woman. And a great mother.”
Florence, a city that never experienced an incident like this, is in shock. “We never dealt with this before,” Chief Mallery said. “This is the first time we had a mass shooting in Florence, so yeah, it’s very emotional. We train on this, hoping it would never happen, but unfortunately, we’ve been touched like so many departments and cities,” Mallery added, reflecting on the emotional toll this incident has taken on the community and the first responders.
This is the third mass shooting in the Greater Cincinnati area this year and the 20th mass killing in the United States in 2024.
The motive behind Garvey’s actions remains unknown, and police ask anyone with information to come forward. The community of Florence is left to mourn the loss of four lives and to support the survivors as they recover from this act of violence.